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Commentary

TV Ads Play A Role In Good Vibes

The debate over how much national TV advertising can help a marketer’s VIBE will continue in perpetuity. But an argument could be made it has a significant impact.

WPP marketing firm
Added Value has released its annual Cultural Traction report based on a survey looking to determine whether a brand is considered to be visionary, inspiring, bold and exciting (VIBE). Results for
those characteristics are mixed together and an index is spit out yielding the VIBE rankings.

In the U.S. – where about 9,500 people 16 and older were surveyed late last year -- Apple
leads. It's followed by Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Sony.

Looking at the top 20, 75% of the brands have offered at least some notable national TV promotions recently. The exceptions are IKEA
(ranked 7th); Harley-Davidson (11th); Toms Shoes (15th); Chipotle (19th) and eBay (20th).

If ad spending were the only contributor to a
VIBE ranking, it would be no surprise that Apple, with all those iPad ads, is the leader. Or, that Target (6th); Samsung (9th) and Subway (10th) are in the top
10.

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But clearly, some brands rely on more than TV spots to get a leading VIBE, starting with Apple. Also, Google, which did have a memorable father-daughter spot, isn’t a heavy
advertiser and is ranked second. Amazon, which is ranked third, backs the Kindle, but isn’t all over prime time plugging its Netflix-style streaming service.

On the flip side, Verizon
and AT&T, which have a seemingly unavoidable presence in prime time, are further down the list ranked 24th and 26th, respectively.

Also, no domestic auto-marketer is
in the top 20. Chevrolet is 21st and Ford is 27th. The foreign car companies, which spend less, did far better led by Mercedes at 12th, BMW at 14th and
Honda at 18th.

What about the cola wars? Coke comes in 17th and Pepsi at 22nd.

Subway trounces all other quick-service restaurant competitors spending
heavily on TV, with McDonald’s at 25th, Burger King at 53rd and KFC at 61st among all 63 ranked.

So, the survey appears to indicate you can’t
advertise your way to the top, but it can help bring good vibes.